Schooling and childcare in Athens

State schools and the spring window

Enrolment and transfer procedures for nipiagogeio and dimotiko are set centrally by the Ministry of Education, which issues a circular for each school year, while the operating detail sits with the local Directorate of Primary Education. For central Athens that is the Directorate of Primary Education of A' Athens at Chiou 16-18, open to the public from 12:00 to 14:30 and reachable at mail@dipe-a-athin.att.sch.gr. The window is a fixed one in spring and the exact dates could not be confirmed for this guide, so take them from the Directorate rather than from a forum. Ask there too whether foreign pupils need certified translations or apostilled documents, and how placement in the reception classes for non-Greek speakers works.

Nurseries are a separate track

The Municipality of Athens operates around 70 infant and nursery centres, with enrolment periods that open periodically through the year, some places funded by national voucher programmes. That is a different application track from the ministry's school enrolment and it is run by the municipality, so a family with a child on each side of the line is watching two calendars.

ACS Athens

ACS publishes its figures, which makes it the reference point for what the international sector costs. Tuition for 2026-2027 runs from €9,050 in pre-school to €13,782 for elementary grades 1 to 5, €14,898 for middle school and €16,348 for high school, billed in two semesters due on 26 August 2026 and 8 January 2027. Registration is a one-time €963 for grades 1 to 12, on top of annual per-family charges of €341 institutional tuition and €698 special project assessment. Admission runs in five steps, from application through documents, then testing for grades 6 to 12 or interview and assessment for younger children, then committee review and registration, and the school takes no walk-in visits.

• Application fee: €100 for the first child and €50 for each additional child, non-refundable.
• Kindergarten is €11,393, junior kindergarten registration €221, and €522 – €742 to continue into grade 1.
• Add-ons are separate and substantial: EFL/ESL €1,576 a year, optimal learning support €2,386 or €595 for a consultation, pre-school day care €1,846, and the full IB Diploma €1,400.

St Catherine's British School

A fresh admissions cycle opens every October for the following academic year, and the school explicitly does not carry waiting lists over from one year to the next. Miss October and you begin again at the back of the new cycle, though entry during the year is possible and is common for expatriate families. The school is non-selective but ranks applicants by British, Australian, Canadian or Commonwealth nationality, dual nationality, English proficiency, academic record and behaviour, siblings already enrolled, family history at the school, and how promptly the application arrived. Admissions are handled by Alexia Sandis on +30 216 900 4611 and Elina Tsiros on +30 216 900 4612.

Byron College and the German School

Byron College requires an INCAS or CAT4 aptitude test, with a fee, for entry to Years 4 to 6 and all of secondary, alongside prior school reports and confidential references. An offer arrives by email and you have 15 days to accept it, after which the documentation, registration fee and signed fee agreement follow within 28 to 30 days of the offer — the school's own page gives both figures, so work to the shorter one. That second window is where families lose places, rather than at the application stage. Its English thresholds are Cambridge PET at B1 for Key Stage 3 entry and Cambridge First at B2 for Key Stage 4 and above, and the document list includes birth certificates, passports, a medical form completed by a Greek doctor, parental consent forms and a registration fee. The German School in Marousi teaches the German curriculum from preschool to grade 12 with Greek integrated throughout and awards the DIA diploma, which gives direct access to German higher education.

• A formal Grade 7 entrance examination lets graduates of Greek primary schools join the German School, which publishes practice material for it.
• German School of Athens: Dimokritou 6 & Germanikis Scholis Athinon, Marousi 151 23, +30 211 777 4500.
• Only ACS publishes retrievable fees, so ask the other schools for a current fee schedule in writing.